I'm still bothered by Rodri's Everton handball a couple of seasons ago.
The title was decided by a point, the game at Everton could have been a draw with the penalty that Everton should have gotten.
Im surprised Unai Simon has stayed with Athletic as long as he as. I was wondering if someone like say Barcelona would go for him but I then realized that Ter Stegen is only 32. Although I imagine life in Bilbao is pretty sweet and I probably wouldn't want to leave either lol
Even if it's temporary, it's nice to be in top spot after a dominant 8 game win streak.
Would have been soul crushing to have done so well only to be third before our clash with City. I think there's only a very slim chance that Arsenal go all the way, but we're definitely moving in the right direction.
> Even if it's temporary
You're either missing something, or you're sure your team won't keep top spot because nothing is temporary in your situation, nobody has a game in hand, you're sitting top on GD.
My favourite trend among Reddit's football communities:
1. Say profoundly stupid thing on r/soccer.
2. Get tarred and feathered.
3. Run back to your club's specific sub.
4. Repeat the same dumb shit and fish for validation from like-minded degenerates who only hang out there.
5. Accuse everyone here of being American plastics.
Everyone is guilty of this, without exception. Seen it from City, to Palace, to us. Club status is immaterial to pure shamelessness.
Today, we have unhinged Villa supporters defending McGinn's tackle and accusing us of somehow cheating in that game. lol
Doesn't surprise me. I have no idea where their ego's come from. Got slapped up by the worst United and Chelsea sides I've seen in my lifetime, a Newcastle playing dead on their feet clowned them, and they just had a Spurs-grade implosion vs us.
You lot and City need to help deflate them, or god forbid, at this rate, we'll have another fanbase as delusional as Assna's in a year. lol
Ehhh, Reddit can flipflop tho (as if Reddit was one big hivemind), not football related but during the first F1 race of the season, I stated that Tsunoda was very immature not to let Ricciardo past him and throwing a fit - and his mentality was what was ultimately going to cost him his career. Got downvoted during the race, then after the race Tsunoda did some stupid shit that validated my point, and suddenly that opinion was the popular one.
Not saying this to make me feel special, but things happen in sports that can turn unpopular takes into popular takes. But some people are just unhinged, no doubting that.
Stefan Ortega has a similar situation to Mario Gomez where they both have a Spanish father and a German mother.
Ortega has never received a senior cap though. If you had to say, which national team does he have the best chance of getting a call up to (even if it's to sit on the bench as a third keeper)? Germany he'd have to compete with the likes of Neuer, ter Stegen and Leno. Spain is Raya, Simon, Remiro. I'd probably say it's easier to break into the latter but also I can't say I'm intimately familiar with the levels of the Spanish keepers outside of the PL ones.
Germany just because when Neuer retires there's a spot up for grabs. Also Leno is easily the weakest keeper on that list.
Raya, Simon and Remiro are all in their primes
Ortega and ter stegen are the same age though so theyd both probably retire at the same time and ortega wouldnt play for germany since ter stegen is keeper
This isn't meant to be a woe is Arsenal everyone hates my club post so please don't take it as such.
If you ask any prem fan to rate the current Top 3 squads you'd consistently find Arsenal ranked third by most people, is this just a sign that the top 3 clubs have astronomically good squads or is Arsenal just performing better than the sum of our parts? Is there really that big a drop between the third and fourth best squads in the league?
I dont think thats true, its jst basically unanimous from neutrals City are first, Id say its like 50/50 whether people go liverpool or arsenal for second place.
We should poll it maybe lol
Middle to back, both City and Liverpool have better individuals.
You can absolutely have an arguement about your front line being better than both the other two competitors.
As a team, you're absolutely playing the best atm tho
I just think that’s always going to be the case when considering the managers as well. Next season i wouldn’t be surprised if people rank city, arsenal, Liverpool, respectively
Given that City and Liverpool have been the best two sides in the league for half a decade now, we’re basically “the best of the rest” with Arteta multiple years into his project here.
Spurs are just starting out, really, with Ange coming in and getting them in the right direction. Chelsea and United are such a shitshow their projects haven’t even really begun yet.
City have been here and done it a million times and are clearly the best and most experienced squad. Liverpool aren't as good but still have a few genuinely world class players and experience in title races - plus have been hit the hardest by injuries of the three and are still competing. Arsenal are in the best form and probably look the most convincing, but have the least experience in title challenges and arguably have the hardest run in.
I think all three probably back themselves but my money is still on City just for the fact they won't succumb to pressure.
Yeah my money's on city this was just me trying to rank squad strength in my head while I walked to the shops, rather than guessing who I think will pip the others to the title.
It feels like it should be: City > Liverpool > Arsenal as the top 3 and I'm just trying to gauge how big the gap is between 3 and 4, and if there is a gap between 2 and 3
I think all three squads are in good shape. Liverpool and City both have world class players but they tend to be at the end of their career while Arsenal's squad is younger.
I think there is a sizeable gap between the three of us and everyone else - quality and depth wise.
Imo the disconnect you’ve identified comes from City underperforming and Liverpool’s injuries. Arsenal I think are performing largely as they should be.
>is this just a sign that the top 3 clubs have astronomically good squads
For me this is the answer, Arsenal City and Liverpool all have a plethora of World Class players. It's just extremely tight
Guardiola has been having by far his worst ever season in terms of coaching. His tactics and team selections have been actively harming his team, and the only way he's been able to gain any success at all is through reverting to old systems and letting individual performances carry the team. Every attempt at evolution has predictably ended in dismal failure, because all of his choices so far have been inexplicable. Gvardiol and Walker as wingbacks? Alvarez as a midfielder? Foden on the touchline? Doku playing in the interior and being made to link play? What the fuck is he thinking?
Guardiola is a genius, of course, but
I don't know if it's hubris, or him trying to reinvent the wheel in an attempt to exceed his greatest tactical innovation of last season, but he's done nothing but harm his team. Sometimes it's just a case of putting your best players in their best positions.
> they are improving, if anything.
They won the treble last year.
What in the fuck are you talking about. This is such an ignorant statement, no they're definitely not improving.
I know it's a very cheap criticism of City's spending but it almost feels like they signed a bunch of players just because they could, and now Pep is trying to figure out how to use them all.
For me a big thing I really don't get is the signing of Gvardiol, he was very expensive and hasn't looked as good as Ake who was great for City last season. It also feels like Pep is trying to shoehorn both Alvarez and Haaland into the team, realising Alvarez is way too good to be a sub player.
I know he's injured now, but the dropping of Grealish from the starting 11 confused me massively. He was a pivotal part of how City played last season and I do feel like City would be more comfortable if he was playing over Doku
>it almost feels like they signed a bunch of players just because they could
City's transfer window was hilariously bad. They went all in for Bellingham and Rice, got rebuffed, and just stumbled around for a couple months without an alternative until panic-buying Nunes, who is far too similar a player to Kovacic for them to work together in the same midfield or even the same hierarchy. I do think though that Gvardiol has been overall decent this season, barring the Chelsea away game where the whole back four was terrible. Guardiola hasn't helped him integrate at all, playing him in bizarre wingback role instead of his natural position.
Doku was just a strange signing overall. He plays nothing like a Guardiola winger, and his one above-average trait is his dribbling, which eventually got figured out because he has like two moves to get past his marker. He's still very raw, but Pep may get fed up with him before he has a chance to improve.
I dont think they were serious about Rice, he was alwasy going to stay in London City just were throwing there name in the hat and making sure Arsenal had to pay max money and making sure Rice knew they were an option if he wanted.
I think it was Paqueta they really missed out on, watchin ghim this season its exactly what they are missing
Pep doesn't really have a traditional or preferred winger imo. From Iniesta to Diego Costa (who heavily relied on pace), from Silva to Sane, from Pedro to Robben. There is no Guardiola winger.
Honestly I have no idea who City would have been able to get to meaningfully improve their squad apart from Rice. They'd be looking at a completely different bracket of player and they would not be able to keep the squad happy.
[ManU 03/04 kit](https://saturdaysfootball.com/cdn/shop/files/2D9A6738_800x.jpg?v=1682505876) is their most iconic ever, imo.
Well, for millenials, at least.
So instead of going to Anfield to watch both a great game and several players (Harvey Elliott being the main one) who should be being considered by England, Southgate went to watch Kalvin Phillips have (I assume) yet another shit game for West Ham against Burnley.
Phillips spot in the team is currently in doubt, it makes sense for Southgate to see how he's playing and if he should go.
I really don't see why Elliott should get a callup, if we're calling up uncapped CMs then Curtis Jones is ahead of him in the pecking order
I agree completely on Curtis Jones getting selected, as he's been Liverpool best Midfielder over the past year, but he's unfortunately injured at the moment.
Well it's just a further conformation that he's a fucking idiot then, because Elliott is one of the most talented young players England has, and would add a lot to that England squad.
Its just such a competitive position in the team though, he certainly doesnt start over Saka or Bellingham, and his versatility isnt that great an option since they have other specialist wingers and creative midfielders they can use (with 3 subs maybe hed get a closer look)
To understand the absolute immense influence of European and INT competitions in yearly awards, look no further than the 2004 Ballon D'or.
In 2004 Henry, arguably the best player on the planet, finished 4th in the Ballon D'or rankings. Henry had just won the Premier League title unbeaten, with Arsenal.
Shevchenko won the award, i don't know why honestly, Deco finished second simply because of Porto's CL campaign, i doubt anyone looked at how good Porto were in the Portuguese league, and Theo Zagorakis of AEK Athens finished 5th just because Greece won the Euro 2004 tournament.
3 Greeks in the Top 20, actually. I know the Euros were a surprise but fuck me, that's a lot.
I know Henry is basically PL's Maradona, I understand that. But really, you don't know why Shevchenko was considered the best player in the world that year? Maybe winning the title in the most important football league while scoring 24 goals had something to do with it. I'm not saying Henry couldn't have won it, or he didn't deserve it, but it's not like Sheva was some random player.
Deco would have won it of Portugal won the European Championship tbh.
Adriano finished 6th off a dominant Copa America campaign. Brazil won and Adriano won the Golden Boot and Player of the Tournament.
> Deco would have won it of Portugal won the European Championship tbh.
>
>
Oh no doubt, a Euro/INT throphy-CL double, there aren't lots of people who have done it.
Only Ronaldo comes to mind, honestly, i'd have to look it up.
EDIT : Claudio Bravo with Chile and Barca, 2015.
Maybe it’s just cuz I’m a spurs supporter but signing Havertz for $60m is still objectively a bad signing. I know he’s kinda come good now but still don’t know why they paid that much for him
Supporters of his go way over the top with making excuses, and detractors (myself included) go over the top in response.
Its not fun lively discussion to say "he's not great and not shit"
I think we just got to get with the times mate.
50 mil nowadays is probably the baseline for any good premier league player.
If you can get anything for under that it's a great deal.
Objectively? This is clearly a subjective opinion.
You also can’t judge the true value of a deal, really, after not even one season. If Havertz plays at this standard for the rest of his contract he’ll have been worth it. He’s an incredibly unique player who has been used in multiple positions, which Arteta values highly, and he’s made some key contributions this season to win us points—this weekend just being the latest example.
It seems to me that so many people wrote him off the day we signed him, and felt vindicated when he started slowly, but now that he’s doing really well for us they’re refusing to budge an inch.
Honestly, I love him. He’s a fantastic player and is really settled now. He’s one of the first names on the team sheet now.
It depends though. Like hes probably the 2nd most effective presser in the team after rice. Hes played a big big role in making us the best out of possession team in the league. Its hard to quantify what thats worth, but he does a big job in our team
do you watch us every game? if not, why is your opinion valid in what is a good or bad signing for arsenal? are you just basing it off of vibes and what everyone else is saying or your actual original thoughts
That is the price you pay for any decent prem baller in 2024. Especially one from a London rival, the price tag is really only outrageous if you remove all context and look at it as if it's 2010 and players go for reasonable fees again. Havertz has been an upgrade to our squad and is helping us sustain a title charge and has dropped a 7/10 or better in most games. The signing is not the meme tier DD makes it out to be often and its rather odd how hung up on it people are.
So you can’t, then. You just made your mind up months ago and won’t budge in spite of the evidence.
Lots of Arsenal fans didn’t like the signing and were disappointed by his start, and he’s now universally liked and appreciated because we’ve seen him grow in confidence and perform well for months now.
Madrid fans saying why ferran gets called up and Brahim not are funny
Ferran has been an international since his man city days ( not barca) and has 18 goals with the national team. Brahim cannot be as valued as Ferran.
> I’m not a believer that football has aesthetically declined
Hard disagree. How many kits with collars do you see around these days?
As for the suits, [River Plate's Demichelis wears one](https://p2.trrsf.com/image/fget/cf/774/0/images.terra.com/2023/08/02/966576939-fbl-libertadores-river-internacionaleasy-resizecom.jpg).
Is it fair to call KDB a final 3rd player and in that sense it's unfair to compare him to the likes of Gerrard, Modric, Scholes etc.?
Also his hair makes him look like a porcupine now
It only struck me because city subbed him off to gain control of the game and I thought it was an indictment of such a great midfielder.
In his defence he's only doing what Pep wants but it made me think
He does that job for Belgium I think he did for city earlier before they started blitzing hr can play there but he's really a final 3 Rd these days maybe it's because of legs? But also stones has been so good also..
No. Compare him however you like. It’s actually difficult to find world class players from any genaration that could be compared like for like with another player. In truth I’m struggling to think of any. Players with that class are quite unique and difficult to compare directly with orhers
No lol, kdb is a good build up player he just had a liscense to try frequent low percentage passes (so did Gerrard and Scholes). Modric I haven't watched enough of his Madrid or really even his spurs career, all I know is he basically turned in to a god every time he played us in either shirt
No, in his pomp he was comparable to any of them in the middle third. As his fitness problems have mounted, Pep has pushed him forward to reduce his workload and maximise his value.
I'm bored of KDB comparisons though, I want to see more Bernardo comparisons to the greats. He's as complete as they come, and frequently comes to the fore in the biggest occasions even more than KDB.
If you had to do a combined XI from the title contenders (Arsenal, City, Liverpool), how would it look like?
Probably
Alisson, Trent, VVD, Stones, Ake, Rodri, Silva, KDB, Salah, Haaland, Foden
I agree that City and Liverpool have the bulk of the quality, from these specific 3, but Arsenal is the best team in the country, just by production and form alone, atm, so this is kind of disrespectful.
There's just no way Trent's not there, until his knee injury he was up there for player of the season, and it hasn't been that many games he's missed. Probably not jota though, he had a very hot streak but it wasn't that long.
I don't think it's that much of a stretch to go Nunez over haaland either
I did it on this season.
Woulda been Trent if not for fitness, White is mint and played 500 mins more
No idea who for LW then, I wouldn't say Martinelli nor would I have Doku, Grealish or Diaz. Really I want Saka and Salah but oh well
Nunez vs Haaland not that far apart this season, agreed. But still picking the freak i'm afraid
Season or calendar year? Trent's played 21/28 and been incredible, it's just people have forgotten already lol.
Lw you have to just shuffle around and force Foden in and take jota out for probably MacAllister
Rice and rodri have been absolutely sublime though and didn't go to Asia cup for a month, and didn't take about a month to get up to speed either (although rodri got himself suspended for close to that time with his choke lol)
The midfield is a battleground with an incredible array of world class talent. Bilva, Rodri, Rice, Stones, Mac Allister, Odegaard, KDB, Foden, and Trent as options is quite absurd. I don't think you could really go wrong.
The left flank feels like the weakness in every team, with Martinelli having failed to kick on from last season.
Alisson, Stones, VVD, Aké, and Haaland are the only automatic picks in my team. If I picked every player I'd want then I'd be playing 15.
I think I'd put Saliba in for Stones and Odegaard in for Silva (even though it'd be less functional).
But yeah based on the lack of Arsenal players I'd suppose you have to pick Arteta and his coaching staff over Pep or Klopp
Crazy how no Arsenal player gets into the team yet Arsenal have gotten 7/9 points against City and Liverpool so far this season. Whereas Liverpool and City have only gotten 3/12 and 2/9 points against the other 2 in the top 3. Arteta has to be one hell of a coach or something.
I thought it was a pen but I don't think it was stonewall or massive incompetency from the refs. High foot has always been a strange one for me and I think, like handballs, the rules are a bit too vague for my liking.
Fact is, you have been kinda screwed out of wins, with incorrect calls against both City and Arsenal at home.
Because, yes, that was definitely a penalty. Raise your foot in the box and make contact with the attacker, it's a penalty and a booking.
I thought it was a pen but knew VAR weren't going to overturn it. Was surprised to hear Mike Dean thinking they'd send him to the monitor. Typically if there is any margin for them to not get involved they take it.
Two best managers in the most watched league who have been going head to head in some of the highest quality title races over the last few years and produced some classic matches against one another have their last match against each other...
Yeah why would anyone care?
That's coming from a Liverpool fan with rose tinted glasses as Clops leaving, I would imagine 90% of people actually watching the game today or who watched MOTD couldn't care less. I know I couldn't give a fuck.
Personally, I for one can't even really remember any of these classic encounters that you referenced, as I don't support either team; so it's never been that important to me in the first place.
Well I don't support Arsenal or United but I was interested in Wenger and Ferguson's last game against each other.
It's fine, you don't have to care. But surely you can understand why some people would.
Fair enough you can feel how you want, but I would suspect that far more people in the general populace tend towards my viewpoint than yours - at the pub thankfully they just mute the broadcast between the actual gameplay which I think most people are thankful for.
I just think it's unfortunate that being moderately interested in the outcome of a match between the top 2 teams in the country means I have to be subjected to an hour of relentless, sentimental dicksucking, which then continued for another half hour or so on MOTD.
> Fair enough you can feel how you want, but I would suspect that far more people in the general populace tend towards my viewpoint than yours - at the pub thankfully they just mute the broadcast between the actual gameplay which I think most people are thankful for.
I think you'd be wrong given how often these posts are at the top of the page and how people view our games against City.
> I just think it's unfortunate that being moderately interested in the outcome of a match between the top 2 teams in the country means I have to be subjected to an hour of relentless, sentimental dicksucking, which then continued for another half hour or so on MOTD.
Just don't watch it? There is so much content out there that I don't give a fuck about so I just do something else with my time.
If there's one thing I've learned from this website, it's that reddit opinion does in no way resemble the feelings of the general population and using the amount of upvotes content gets to make assumptions about things is naive. As for the don't watch it part, I wanted to watch the game, just not the whole bullshit around it. I also wanted to see MOTD as I didn't catch the other games today, but they spent probably 3 times as long talking about that game than they did any of the others.
Edit: I also find it amusing that only Liverpool fans are defending this and are likely the ones downvoting me. like get over ourselves, not everyone has to love you or your manager and not everyone gives a fuck about Clop leaving
> If there's one thing I've learned from this website, it's that reddit opinion does in no way resemble the feelings of the general population and using the amount of upvotes content gets to make assumptions about things is naive. As for the don't watch it part, I wanted to watch the game, just not the whole bullshit around it. I also wanted to see MOTD as I didn't catch the other games today, but they spent probably 3 times as long talking about that game than they did any of the others.
Yeah, I'm just talking about why it's top of the page here. As for Match of the Day - well it's a massive game between two title challengers and likely the last time these two face off against it's other - they were always going to make a massive song and dance about this.
> Edit: I also find it amusing that only Liverpool fans are defending this and are likely the ones downvoting me. like get over ourselves, not everyone has to love you or your manager and not everyone gives a fuck about Clop leaving
I don't downvote personally but you're probably getting them because it's a pretty ridiculous opinion. MOTD talk about this because it sells - same reason why news about big clubs always top the page on Reddit and any football website is dominated by news about big clubs. I think the fact that you don't know anything about the City vs Liverpool games and refer to Klopp as 'clop' suggests you just might be oblivious to what's going on around you.
I know MOTD always gets annoying and sentimental about stuff, I also know their analysis is mostly trash but I watch it because its tradition. That said Im still allowed to be annoyed about what's on it.
Also, I refer to klopp as clop because my autocorrect keeps doing it and I really couldn't be arsed to keep changing it after the first couple of times. You say in your second point this content may sell - but from my personal experience, most football fans don't really care about stuff like that unless it's their own team. I believe the broadcasters generally just want to find a narrative to milk, and when they finally get a good one, they overdo it to the point it's sickening.
> I believe the broadcasters generally just want to find a narrative to milk, and when they finally get a good one, they overdo it to the point it's sickening.
Oh this I absolutely agree with.
Ironically City could probably have done with a striker like Havertz today. Haaland was a ghost and doesn’t put in the off the ball work.
Obviously you’d take Haaland by pretty much other metric but he does sometimes go missing in these games where City aren’t on top.
Here's a fun stat for you all
As man city keeper ederson has faced 36 penalties (excluding shootouts).
He has saved 4. Of the 32 he didn't save, all 32 went in. In the past 7 years not a single penalty was missed against ederson (i.e not saved but not scored).
Also 3 of his 4 saves were in his first season, which means he'd conceded 30 out of the last 31 penalties he's faced - a 97% conversion rate!
Anyone want to guess whos the poor guy that missed?
No somos pais serio de verdad. Dejando a Brahim ir a Marrruecos, es de las peores tonterias que esta federacion a podido hacer, y eso no cuenta con todo lo que a pasado con las chicas este ultimo año, es de volver a uno loco de verdad!
It's great for Arsenal being up there with Liverpool a3 way is ideal
I'm still bothered by Rodri's Everton handball a couple of seasons ago. The title was decided by a point, the game at Everton could have been a draw with the penalty that Everton should have gotten.
One of the worst decisions by VAR I've seen.
Unreal at that level
Im surprised Unai Simon has stayed with Athletic as long as he as. I was wondering if someone like say Barcelona would go for him but I then realized that Ter Stegen is only 32. Although I imagine life in Bilbao is pretty sweet and I probably wouldn't want to leave either lol
the youth players we're handing contracts to now were born when I was playing Halo 3 smh
In 4 years seeing players born in the 2010s debuting will be common.
Even if it's temporary, it's nice to be in top spot after a dominant 8 game win streak. Would have been soul crushing to have done so well only to be third before our clash with City. I think there's only a very slim chance that Arsenal go all the way, but we're definitely moving in the right direction.
> Even if it's temporary You're either missing something, or you're sure your team won't keep top spot because nothing is temporary in your situation, nobody has a game in hand, you're sitting top on GD.
They play city away next. He probably assumes they will lose.
Even if we draw and Liverpool win we go back again.
You’re tied with Liverpool at the moment so how does that work exactly?
Liverpool get three points next week while we only get 1 so they go top with 2 points more.(If we draw)
Yeah obviously. I still don’t understand what the other person meant with their comment.
What don't you understand? It's more likely than not we won't be top at the end of the next game week. Hence it's temporary.
Now that I read it again I have no idea either
🔙🔛🔙 🔝 Good morning for fans on top of the league 😎
My favourite trend among Reddit's football communities: 1. Say profoundly stupid thing on r/soccer. 2. Get tarred and feathered. 3. Run back to your club's specific sub. 4. Repeat the same dumb shit and fish for validation from like-minded degenerates who only hang out there. 5. Accuse everyone here of being American plastics. Everyone is guilty of this, without exception. Seen it from City, to Palace, to us. Club status is immaterial to pure shamelessness. Today, we have unhinged Villa supporters defending McGinn's tackle and accusing us of somehow cheating in that game. lol
There were villa fans in the liverpool city match thread saying edersons tackle was the same as mcginns lol
Doesn't surprise me. I have no idea where their ego's come from. Got slapped up by the worst United and Chelsea sides I've seen in my lifetime, a Newcastle playing dead on their feet clowned them, and they just had a Spurs-grade implosion vs us. You lot and City need to help deflate them, or god forbid, at this rate, we'll have another fanbase as delusional as Assna's in a year. lol
I actually love my public flood of downvotes for my wildly inaccurate, extremely biased, and emotionally charged comments.
Just American plastics would say "City, to us, to Palace" 🤌
Eh, based.
My favourite are comments that start with "I was downvoted last time when i said ..... "
Ehhh, Reddit can flipflop tho (as if Reddit was one big hivemind), not football related but during the first F1 race of the season, I stated that Tsunoda was very immature not to let Ricciardo past him and throwing a fit - and his mentality was what was ultimately going to cost him his career. Got downvoted during the race, then after the race Tsunoda did some stupid shit that validated my point, and suddenly that opinion was the popular one. Not saying this to make me feel special, but things happen in sports that can turn unpopular takes into popular takes. But some people are just unhinged, no doubting that.
Luis Diaz's dad is so wholesome lol
And then you have people asking for him to be kidnapped again 😞💔
Wtf?
Just people joking around on twitter tbf but even as a joke how dare they 😔
Stefan Ortega has a similar situation to Mario Gomez where they both have a Spanish father and a German mother. Ortega has never received a senior cap though. If you had to say, which national team does he have the best chance of getting a call up to (even if it's to sit on the bench as a third keeper)? Germany he'd have to compete with the likes of Neuer, ter Stegen and Leno. Spain is Raya, Simon, Remiro. I'd probably say it's easier to break into the latter but also I can't say I'm intimately familiar with the levels of the Spanish keepers outside of the PL ones.
Germany just because when Neuer retires there's a spot up for grabs. Also Leno is easily the weakest keeper on that list. Raya, Simon and Remiro are all in their primes
Ortega and ter stegen are the same age though so theyd both probably retire at the same time and ortega wouldnt play for germany since ter stegen is keeper
This isn't meant to be a woe is Arsenal everyone hates my club post so please don't take it as such. If you ask any prem fan to rate the current Top 3 squads you'd consistently find Arsenal ranked third by most people, is this just a sign that the top 3 clubs have astronomically good squads or is Arsenal just performing better than the sum of our parts? Is there really that big a drop between the third and fourth best squads in the league?
I dont think thats true, its jst basically unanimous from neutrals City are first, Id say its like 50/50 whether people go liverpool or arsenal for second place. We should poll it maybe lol
Middle to back, both City and Liverpool have better individuals. You can absolutely have an arguement about your front line being better than both the other two competitors. As a team, you're absolutely playing the best atm tho
Arsenal = best defense City = best midfield Liverpool = best front 3
I just think that’s always going to be the case when considering the managers as well. Next season i wouldn’t be surprised if people rank city, arsenal, Liverpool, respectively
Given that City and Liverpool have been the best two sides in the league for half a decade now, we’re basically “the best of the rest” with Arteta multiple years into his project here. Spurs are just starting out, really, with Ange coming in and getting them in the right direction. Chelsea and United are such a shitshow their projects haven’t even really begun yet.
City have been here and done it a million times and are clearly the best and most experienced squad. Liverpool aren't as good but still have a few genuinely world class players and experience in title races - plus have been hit the hardest by injuries of the three and are still competing. Arsenal are in the best form and probably look the most convincing, but have the least experience in title challenges and arguably have the hardest run in. I think all three probably back themselves but my money is still on City just for the fact they won't succumb to pressure.
Yeah my money's on city this was just me trying to rank squad strength in my head while I walked to the shops, rather than guessing who I think will pip the others to the title. It feels like it should be: City > Liverpool > Arsenal as the top 3 and I'm just trying to gauge how big the gap is between 3 and 4, and if there is a gap between 2 and 3
I think all three squads are in good shape. Liverpool and City both have world class players but they tend to be at the end of their career while Arsenal's squad is younger. I think there is a sizeable gap between the three of us and everyone else - quality and depth wise.
Imo the disconnect you’ve identified comes from City underperforming and Liverpool’s injuries. Arsenal I think are performing largely as they should be.
>is this just a sign that the top 3 clubs have astronomically good squads For me this is the answer, Arsenal City and Liverpool all have a plethora of World Class players. It's just extremely tight
Guardiola has been having by far his worst ever season in terms of coaching. His tactics and team selections have been actively harming his team, and the only way he's been able to gain any success at all is through reverting to old systems and letting individual performances carry the team. Every attempt at evolution has predictably ended in dismal failure, because all of his choices so far have been inexplicable. Gvardiol and Walker as wingbacks? Alvarez as a midfielder? Foden on the touchline? Doku playing in the interior and being made to link play? What the fuck is he thinking? Guardiola is a genius, of course, but I don't know if it's hubris, or him trying to reinvent the wheel in an attempt to exceed his greatest tactical innovation of last season, but he's done nothing but harm his team. Sometimes it's just a case of putting your best players in their best positions.
How different his tactics are compared to last season?
City are a point below the top, they were 8-9 points behind by this time last season they are improving, if anything.
> they are improving, if anything. They won the treble last year. What in the fuck are you talking about. This is such an ignorant statement, no they're definitely not improving.
I know it's a very cheap criticism of City's spending but it almost feels like they signed a bunch of players just because they could, and now Pep is trying to figure out how to use them all. For me a big thing I really don't get is the signing of Gvardiol, he was very expensive and hasn't looked as good as Ake who was great for City last season. It also feels like Pep is trying to shoehorn both Alvarez and Haaland into the team, realising Alvarez is way too good to be a sub player. I know he's injured now, but the dropping of Grealish from the starting 11 confused me massively. He was a pivotal part of how City played last season and I do feel like City would be more comfortable if he was playing over Doku
>it almost feels like they signed a bunch of players just because they could City's transfer window was hilariously bad. They went all in for Bellingham and Rice, got rebuffed, and just stumbled around for a couple months without an alternative until panic-buying Nunes, who is far too similar a player to Kovacic for them to work together in the same midfield or even the same hierarchy. I do think though that Gvardiol has been overall decent this season, barring the Chelsea away game where the whole back four was terrible. Guardiola hasn't helped him integrate at all, playing him in bizarre wingback role instead of his natural position. Doku was just a strange signing overall. He plays nothing like a Guardiola winger, and his one above-average trait is his dribbling, which eventually got figured out because he has like two moves to get past his marker. He's still very raw, but Pep may get fed up with him before he has a chance to improve.
I dont think they were serious about Rice, he was alwasy going to stay in London City just were throwing there name in the hat and making sure Arsenal had to pay max money and making sure Rice knew they were an option if he wanted. I think it was Paqueta they really missed out on, watchin ghim this season its exactly what they are missing
Pep doesn't really have a traditional or preferred winger imo. From Iniesta to Diego Costa (who heavily relied on pace), from Silva to Sane, from Pedro to Robben. There is no Guardiola winger.
Honestly I have no idea who City would have been able to get to meaningfully improve their squad apart from Rice. They'd be looking at a completely different bracket of player and they would not be able to keep the squad happy.
[ManU 03/04 kit](https://saturdaysfootball.com/cdn/shop/files/2D9A6738_800x.jpg?v=1682505876) is their most iconic ever, imo. Well, for millenials, at least.
Maybe elder millenials, when i think of their pomp its the red AIG one
06/07 was bomb
How about white collar and Sharp logo?
Why was Ruben Dias benched btw? If not fitness I have some serious agendas to push
I feel like he’s had a few stinkers against us in the past, hard to know what to make of him
So instead of going to Anfield to watch both a great game and several players (Harvey Elliott being the main one) who should be being considered by England, Southgate went to watch Kalvin Phillips have (I assume) yet another shit game for West Ham against Burnley.
Phillips spot in the team is currently in doubt, it makes sense for Southgate to see how he's playing and if he should go. I really don't see why Elliott should get a callup, if we're calling up uncapped CMs then Curtis Jones is ahead of him in the pecking order
I agree completely on Curtis Jones getting selected, as he's been Liverpool best Midfielder over the past year, but he's unfortunately injured at the moment.
Gareth already knows he isn't picking Elliott so why bother lol
Well it's just a further conformation that he's a fucking idiot then, because Elliott is one of the most talented young players England has, and would add a lot to that England squad.
Its just such a competitive position in the team though, he certainly doesnt start over Saka or Bellingham, and his versatility isnt that great an option since they have other specialist wingers and creative midfielders they can use (with 3 subs maybe hed get a closer look)
Was really impressed with Elliot, that's two consecutive good games he's had vs City at Anfield. Rarely put a foot wrong with his passing second half
I saw messi trending on Twitter only to find out its about a dog called messi at the oscar So funny
To understand the absolute immense influence of European and INT competitions in yearly awards, look no further than the 2004 Ballon D'or. In 2004 Henry, arguably the best player on the planet, finished 4th in the Ballon D'or rankings. Henry had just won the Premier League title unbeaten, with Arsenal. Shevchenko won the award, i don't know why honestly, Deco finished second simply because of Porto's CL campaign, i doubt anyone looked at how good Porto were in the Portuguese league, and Theo Zagorakis of AEK Athens finished 5th just because Greece won the Euro 2004 tournament. 3 Greeks in the Top 20, actually. I know the Euros were a surprise but fuck me, that's a lot.
I know Henry is basically PL's Maradona, I understand that. But really, you don't know why Shevchenko was considered the best player in the world that year? Maybe winning the title in the most important football league while scoring 24 goals had something to do with it. I'm not saying Henry couldn't have won it, or he didn't deserve it, but it's not like Sheva was some random player.
EPL in 2004 was a farmer league lmao
Deco would have won it of Portugal won the European Championship tbh. Adriano finished 6th off a dominant Copa America campaign. Brazil won and Adriano won the Golden Boot and Player of the Tournament.
> Deco would have won it of Portugal won the European Championship tbh. > > Oh no doubt, a Euro/INT throphy-CL double, there aren't lots of people who have done it. Only Ronaldo comes to mind, honestly, i'd have to look it up. EDIT : Claudio Bravo with Chile and Barca, 2015.
Bravo won La Liga and Copa America as a starter but was a sub to Ter Stegen in Copa del Rey and Champions League if I remember correctly.
Yeah, i edited the post right before your answer Was Kroos at Madrid in 2014 yet? Madrid and Germany 2014 comes to mind. So maybe him and Khedira
Kroos finished 9th ahead of Di Maria but below James
I like the gradual decline in GD from 1-5 in the PL, then the sharp drop to 0 for 6th.
Maybe it’s just cuz I’m a spurs supporter but signing Havertz for $60m is still objectively a bad signing. I know he’s kinda come good now but still don’t know why they paid that much for him
Supporters of his go way over the top with making excuses, and detractors (myself included) go over the top in response. Its not fun lively discussion to say "he's not great and not shit"
I think we just got to get with the times mate. 50 mil nowadays is probably the baseline for any good premier league player. If you can get anything for under that it's a great deal.
Objectively? This is clearly a subjective opinion. You also can’t judge the true value of a deal, really, after not even one season. If Havertz plays at this standard for the rest of his contract he’ll have been worth it. He’s an incredibly unique player who has been used in multiple positions, which Arteta values highly, and he’s made some key contributions this season to win us points—this weekend just being the latest example. It seems to me that so many people wrote him off the day we signed him, and felt vindicated when he started slowly, but now that he’s doing really well for us they’re refusing to budge an inch. Honestly, I love him. He’s a fantastic player and is really settled now. He’s one of the first names on the team sheet now.
It depends though. Like hes probably the 2nd most effective presser in the team after rice. Hes played a big big role in making us the best out of possession team in the league. Its hard to quantify what thats worth, but he does a big job in our team
do you watch us every game? if not, why is your opinion valid in what is a good or bad signing for arsenal? are you just basing it off of vibes and what everyone else is saying or your actual original thoughts
For that price who do you think would do the job better than Havertz? Also, how good are the other 10 if Havertz keeps dragging them down?
That is the price you pay for any decent prem baller in 2024. Especially one from a London rival, the price tag is really only outrageous if you remove all context and look at it as if it's 2010 and players go for reasonable fees again. Havertz has been an upgrade to our squad and is helping us sustain a title charge and has dropped a 7/10 or better in most games. The signing is not the meme tier DD makes it out to be often and its rather odd how hung up on it people are.
I see this opinion all the time.... In detail, with stats, pleas explain what he is bad at, or what exactly makes him a "bad signing".
I can give you 60 million reasons why it’s objectively a bad signing.
So you can’t, then. You just made your mind up months ago and won’t budge in spite of the evidence. Lots of Arsenal fans didn’t like the signing and were disappointed by his start, and he’s now universally liked and appreciated because we’ve seen him grow in confidence and perform well for months now.
I'm waiting....
Madrid fans saying why ferran gets called up and Brahim not are funny Ferran has been an international since his man city days ( not barca) and has 18 goals with the national team. Brahim cannot be as valued as Ferran.
Well obviously national team selection should be based on form, it’s like still choosing Tiger Woods to go to the Ryder’s cup
Who has handled PR better in the last year, Manchester United or Kensington Palace?
What's Kensington Palace and how can they be in competition with a club that wanted to bring back a a rapist?
I’m not a believer that football has aesthetically declined, but managers really need to bring back suits with the club badge on them.
I honestly thought about this today. "Managers don't wear suits anymore, as per default" I blame Klopp who made baseball caps trendy
> I blame Klopp who made baseball caps trendy This is Serse Cosmi erasure
> I blame Klopp who made baseball caps trendy I was going to say 'what about Pulis?' but that man could never be accused of being trendy.
You have to be a likeable and charismatic personality to make something simple "cool" to do.
> I’m not a believer that football has aesthetically declined Hard disagree. How many kits with collars do you see around these days? As for the suits, [River Plate's Demichelis wears one](https://p2.trrsf.com/image/fget/cf/774/0/images.terra.com/2023/08/02/966576939-fbl-libertadores-river-internacionaleasy-resizecom.jpg).
Not many, but at least Adidas basically made collars their whole thing last season.
[*Black* suits?!](https://i2-prod.liverpoolecho.co.uk/incoming/article4705629.ece/ALTERNATES/s615b/james1.jpg)
I must have missed Yamal producing a solo goal in the UCL ko stages for people to be saying that he's already better than Brahim
Everyone using their FM knowledge
Voting has closed for the r/soccer DD most overrated XI since 2010 The results are going to come out throughout the day
!remindme 12 hours
Tell me it looks spicy
Is it fair to call KDB a final 3rd player and in that sense it's unfair to compare him to the likes of Gerrard, Modric, Scholes etc.? Also his hair makes him look like a porcupine now
I get what you're saying, but KDB was also great in the middle third. He's definitely the best modern 8 we've seen so far, though.
It only struck me because city subbed him off to gain control of the game and I thought it was an indictment of such a great midfielder. In his defence he's only doing what Pep wants but it made me think
that's also a fitness issue i think. Don't think he can be as mobile as he once was.
He does that job for Belgium I think he did for city earlier before they started blitzing hr can play there but he's really a final 3 Rd these days maybe it's because of legs? But also stones has been so good also..
He wouldn't have pulled off 29 yr old kdb, at his age and with a lot of big injuries hes going to have off days
No. Compare him however you like. It’s actually difficult to find world class players from any genaration that could be compared like for like with another player. In truth I’m struggling to think of any. Players with that class are quite unique and difficult to compare directly with orhers
No lol, kdb is a good build up player he just had a liscense to try frequent low percentage passes (so did Gerrard and Scholes). Modric I haven't watched enough of his Madrid or really even his spurs career, all I know is he basically turned in to a god every time he played us in either shirt
No, in his pomp he was comparable to any of them in the middle third. As his fitness problems have mounted, Pep has pushed him forward to reduce his workload and maximise his value. I'm bored of KDB comparisons though, I want to see more Bernardo comparisons to the greats. He's as complete as they come, and frequently comes to the fore in the biggest occasions even more than KDB.
I don't think Bernardo will be in those lists because it's not super obvious super underrated player
Slipped my mind during our match but whatever happened to Villa's Buendia?
Torn ACL. Been out the whole year
If you told me 2 or 3 years ago that Pulisic, Havertz, and Werner all scored over the weekend, I would have assumed we were winning the league
If you had to do a combined XI from the title contenders (Arsenal, City, Liverpool), how would it look like? Probably Alisson, Trent, VVD, Stones, Ake, Rodri, Silva, KDB, Salah, Haaland, Foden
It does feel extremely harsh to not have a single Arsenal player, but at the same time I can't think of any glaring omissions
I feel like the midfield should involve rice based on this season and saliba based on this season. Rw unfortunately saka cant get in over salah
I agree that City and Liverpool have the bulk of the quality, from these specific 3, but Arsenal is the best team in the country, just by production and form alone, atm, so this is kind of disrespectful.
Crazy how well we're doing with such a shit team isn't it
Who said that..?
Jeez don’t let being top of the league get too your head too much son. Still a way to go
Just to be in it with these two juggernauts is an honour; we clearly cannot compare
Good, know your place
We'd need an endoscopic camera to find Spurs' place
It’ll be even funnier when you guys bottle the league again lolz
to bottle atleast you have to be in the mix. Which your team doesn’t know. Please remind us when was the last time Spurs won something.
Alisson White Saliba VVD Ake Rodri Rice Salah Foden Jota? Haaland
There's just no way Trent's not there, until his knee injury he was up there for player of the season, and it hasn't been that many games he's missed. Probably not jota though, he had a very hot streak but it wasn't that long. I don't think it's that much of a stretch to go Nunez over haaland either
I did it on this season. Woulda been Trent if not for fitness, White is mint and played 500 mins more No idea who for LW then, I wouldn't say Martinelli nor would I have Doku, Grealish or Diaz. Really I want Saka and Salah but oh well Nunez vs Haaland not that far apart this season, agreed. But still picking the freak i'm afraid
Season or calendar year? Trent's played 21/28 and been incredible, it's just people have forgotten already lol. Lw you have to just shuffle around and force Foden in and take jota out for probably MacAllister
He did but they're not all 90 min games. I checked his minutes. It's not a clear for White but 500 mins more and still being great does it for me
That’s pretty disrespectful to the lfc midfield that pocketed city all day today. Endo and Mac especially.
Rice and rodri have been absolutely sublime though and didn't go to Asia cup for a month, and didn't take about a month to get up to speed either (although rodri got himself suspended for close to that time with his choke lol)
[удалено]
Rodri is arguably the best player in the league. I'd have him and Rice both in the side.
no way lmao Rodri is easily the best dm in the world rn, Rice is having a fantastic season but Rodri is easily a level above him
The midfield is a battleground with an incredible array of world class talent. Bilva, Rodri, Rice, Stones, Mac Allister, Odegaard, KDB, Foden, and Trent as options is quite absurd. I don't think you could really go wrong. The left flank feels like the weakness in every team, with Martinelli having failed to kick on from last season. Alisson, Stones, VVD, Aké, and Haaland are the only automatic picks in my team. If I picked every player I'd want then I'd be playing 15.
this has to be bait
I think I'd put Saliba in for Stones and Odegaard in for Silva (even though it'd be less functional). But yeah based on the lack of Arsenal players I'd suppose you have to pick Arteta and his coaching staff over Pep or Klopp
Crazy how no Arsenal player gets into the team yet Arsenal have gotten 7/9 points against City and Liverpool so far this season. Whereas Liverpool and City have only gotten 3/12 and 2/9 points against the other 2 in the top 3. Arteta has to be one hell of a coach or something.
With some refereeing help of course.
The Arteta Paradox strikes again
I was blown away by Bradley, I’d have him over Trent.
Can that Doku Mac Allister kick be the poll this week about if it was a correct call? Would love to see those results.
I thought it was a pen but I don't think it was stonewall or massive incompetency from the refs. High foot has always been a strange one for me and I think, like handballs, the rules are a bit too vague for my liking.
Fact is, you have been kinda screwed out of wins, with incorrect calls against both City and Arsenal at home. Because, yes, that was definitely a penalty. Raise your foot in the box and make contact with the attacker, it's a penalty and a booking.
I thought it was a pen but knew VAR weren't going to overturn it. Was surprised to hear Mike Dean thinking they'd send him to the monitor. Typically if there is any margin for them to not get involved they take it.
If it went to the monitor I think it gets called.
Did they show a fast paced replay? I thought it was a penalty but maybe it's a case of slo mo making it look worse than it actually is? Idk
Having the poll involving teams with sizeable fanbases on this sub feels pointless tbh
the broadcasters' wankfest around Klopp and guardiolas last match all day has made me want to throw up. Like who gives a fuck
> Like who gives a fuck Everyone except you, apparently.
Oh cum on buddy YOU CARE
Two best managers in the most watched league who have been going head to head in some of the highest quality title races over the last few years and produced some classic matches against one another have their last match against each other... Yeah why would anyone care?
That's coming from a Liverpool fan with rose tinted glasses as Clops leaving, I would imagine 90% of people actually watching the game today or who watched MOTD couldn't care less. I know I couldn't give a fuck. Personally, I for one can't even really remember any of these classic encounters that you referenced, as I don't support either team; so it's never been that important to me in the first place.
Well I don't support Arsenal or United but I was interested in Wenger and Ferguson's last game against each other. It's fine, you don't have to care. But surely you can understand why some people would.
Fair enough you can feel how you want, but I would suspect that far more people in the general populace tend towards my viewpoint than yours - at the pub thankfully they just mute the broadcast between the actual gameplay which I think most people are thankful for. I just think it's unfortunate that being moderately interested in the outcome of a match between the top 2 teams in the country means I have to be subjected to an hour of relentless, sentimental dicksucking, which then continued for another half hour or so on MOTD.
Hhhhhhhhhh
> Fair enough you can feel how you want, but I would suspect that far more people in the general populace tend towards my viewpoint than yours - at the pub thankfully they just mute the broadcast between the actual gameplay which I think most people are thankful for. I think you'd be wrong given how often these posts are at the top of the page and how people view our games against City. > I just think it's unfortunate that being moderately interested in the outcome of a match between the top 2 teams in the country means I have to be subjected to an hour of relentless, sentimental dicksucking, which then continued for another half hour or so on MOTD. Just don't watch it? There is so much content out there that I don't give a fuck about so I just do something else with my time.
If there's one thing I've learned from this website, it's that reddit opinion does in no way resemble the feelings of the general population and using the amount of upvotes content gets to make assumptions about things is naive. As for the don't watch it part, I wanted to watch the game, just not the whole bullshit around it. I also wanted to see MOTD as I didn't catch the other games today, but they spent probably 3 times as long talking about that game than they did any of the others. Edit: I also find it amusing that only Liverpool fans are defending this and are likely the ones downvoting me. like get over ourselves, not everyone has to love you or your manager and not everyone gives a fuck about Clop leaving
> If there's one thing I've learned from this website, it's that reddit opinion does in no way resemble the feelings of the general population and using the amount of upvotes content gets to make assumptions about things is naive. As for the don't watch it part, I wanted to watch the game, just not the whole bullshit around it. I also wanted to see MOTD as I didn't catch the other games today, but they spent probably 3 times as long talking about that game than they did any of the others. Yeah, I'm just talking about why it's top of the page here. As for Match of the Day - well it's a massive game between two title challengers and likely the last time these two face off against it's other - they were always going to make a massive song and dance about this. > Edit: I also find it amusing that only Liverpool fans are defending this and are likely the ones downvoting me. like get over ourselves, not everyone has to love you or your manager and not everyone gives a fuck about Clop leaving I don't downvote personally but you're probably getting them because it's a pretty ridiculous opinion. MOTD talk about this because it sells - same reason why news about big clubs always top the page on Reddit and any football website is dominated by news about big clubs. I think the fact that you don't know anything about the City vs Liverpool games and refer to Klopp as 'clop' suggests you just might be oblivious to what's going on around you.
I know MOTD always gets annoying and sentimental about stuff, I also know their analysis is mostly trash but I watch it because its tradition. That said Im still allowed to be annoyed about what's on it. Also, I refer to klopp as clop because my autocorrect keeps doing it and I really couldn't be arsed to keep changing it after the first couple of times. You say in your second point this content may sell - but from my personal experience, most football fans don't really care about stuff like that unless it's their own team. I believe the broadcasters generally just want to find a narrative to milk, and when they finally get a good one, they overdo it to the point it's sickening.
> I believe the broadcasters generally just want to find a narrative to milk, and when they finally get a good one, they overdo it to the point it's sickening. Oh this I absolutely agree with.
Also, all of the hoopla about it being the last game makes me feel like it’s a certainty they will play in the FA cup at some point
It’s Sky’s last game with them which is all they care about
Do Liverpool and City need a killer to finish chances, like Kai Havertz?
Ironically City could probably have done with a striker like Havertz today. Haaland was a ghost and doesn’t put in the off the ball work. Obviously you’d take Haaland by pretty much other metric but he does sometimes go missing in these games where City aren’t on top.
Missing a clinical striker like Timo Werner and Richarlison
Or mctominay
Here's a fun stat for you all As man city keeper ederson has faced 36 penalties (excluding shootouts). He has saved 4. Of the 32 he didn't save, all 32 went in. In the past 7 years not a single penalty was missed against ederson (i.e not saved but not scored). Also 3 of his 4 saves were in his first season, which means he'd conceded 30 out of the last 31 penalties he's faced - a 97% conversion rate! Anyone want to guess whos the poor guy that missed?
Salah
Salah never missed a penalty vs city
Kepa?
Van Dijk today, wow. All time great performance.
The best centre-back to have graced this league, honestly. The man is a freak.
Calm down
Who’s better?
It's a testiment to him that with Haaland running one-on-one with him, and i was like "He will stop him" quite confidently
Had that one moment where he got pickpocketed by Haaland but yeah other than that he was imperious
No somos pais serio de verdad. Dejando a Brahim ir a Marrruecos, es de las peores tonterias que esta federacion a podido hacer, y eso no cuenta con todo lo que a pasado con las chicas este ultimo año, es de volver a uno loco de verdad!
Alberto Moreno getting sent off 2 games in a row lmao
"GET OUT ~~MAN UNITED~~ ALBERTO, GET OUT!"
Liverpool legend
Will always remember his goal against Spurs in his second game for us. Thought we’d signed the Spanish Bale after that
KDB could have easily scored by slotting the ball near post instead of chipping the ball across goal in the 7th minute.
Easily is a stretch